Overview

Amazon's Buyer-Seller Messaging system is the official communication channel that allows third-party sellers to reach out to customers directly through Seller Central. Whether you need to gather additional information to fulfill an order or respond to a customer service inquiry, this tool keeps all correspondence within Amazon's ecosystem while protecting both parties' personal contact details.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Encrypted email addresses — Amazon assigns encrypted email addresses to both buyers and sellers, ensuring that personal email addresses are never exposed during communication.
• Contact reasons are required — When initiating a message, sellers must select a specific contact reason that corresponds to the order status and product category, which helps Amazon monitor appropriate use of the system.
• Multiple team members can participate — If your business has several people handling customer communications, each of their email addresses must be individually enabled in Seller Central before they can send or receive buyer messages.
• Approved email addresses only — Messages sent from email addresses that are not registered or approved in your account settings will be automatically rejected by Amazon's system.
• Order-specific communication — Messages are tied to specific orders, meaning you initiate contact through the order details page rather than through a general messaging inbox.

How It Works

To contact a buyer through the Buyer-Seller Messaging system, sellers start by navigating to the Orders section in Seller Central and locating the relevant order. From there, clicking on the buyer's name in the order details opens the messaging interface. Sellers then choose an appropriate contact reason from the available options, compose their message, and send it. The available contact reasons will vary depending on the current status of the order and the product category involved, so not every option will be visible for every order. It is important to note that this process applies to standard orders and may differ for certain order types or fulfillment methods.

Managing Email Addresses and Permissions